


Our Summer

by Stars_and_FaerieDust



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25943905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stars_and_FaerieDust/pseuds/Stars_and_FaerieDust
Summary: Edward and Bella's summer before the events of New Moon.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. Flowers in my Hair

“How does your leg feel?” 

Edward’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, soft concern shining in it. It’d must have been the tenth time he asked me that since I started up on the dishes. He’d tried to convince me that I should just rest up and let him take care of whatever chores needed to get gone. For some, I had caved. Lugging around the heavy comforters wasn’t something I had been excited to do and there was no way I was carrying the laundry detergent up the stairs after groceries. But dishes were something I could manage. 

“It’s fine, I’m barely putting any weight on it,” I soothed, lifting my leg off the floor to show that my balance could handle the load for the time being before getting back to scrubbing the remnants of baked lasagna off the glass tray. The less Edward did for me the less guilty I would feel for the weeks of relying on him and Alice. I knew that they were strong enough to not mind lugging me around but feeling useless wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. Now that my leg was finally out of the cast I could take care of myself again. 

And I hoped that it being gone would stop the sad look I would catch on Edward’s face. 

Suddenly, there was a pair of cool arms looped around my waist and I shuddered softly as I felt Edward’s breath near my ear as he said, “I could finish these faster.” 

My head fell back, resting on the plain of his chest so that I could properly look up at him. Despite our months together it was hard to believe that Edward was real. My heart still fluttered when I looked at him. His eyes were warm, golden honey that I could drown in if I stared too long. Bronze locks shone under the bulbs that lit up the little kitchen we stood in and brushed against my ear. My eyes couldn’t help but trace along the graceful lines that structured his perfect face. For a moment I was simply lost in look at him. 

But not for long. I rolled my eyes and hummed in return, “Of course you could but that’s not the point. I feel like a total blob just laying around letting everyone do everything for me.” 

“It’s not like it was your fault, your leg needed rest to heal pro-” 

“Yeah, I know. But I like cleaning up around the house so let me have this,” I interrupted, knowing that if I let him go on he would blame himself. James had snapped my leg but Edward blamed himself at every turn. Best not to let him think about it for too long. 

A sigh leaves his lips and a squeal leaves my own when I feel Edward’s arms tighten around me and lift me away from the sink. “Hey!” I huffed as he sat me down on the kitchen table, his hands resting on either side of me to keep me from hopping off. A low laugh leaves his throat and my breath stops for a second as he leans forward so that our noses are brushing together. One of his hands moves up to cup my cheek and I can’t help but lean into the cool firmness of his palm. It’s distracting.   
“Stop doing that,” I mumble, a small pout coming forth which pulls a laugh from Edward’s lips; eyes lighting up as he pecks my lips. In the blink of an eye, Edward’s at the sink and scrubbing faster than I could ever hope to. The speed makes my eyebrows furrow and I ask, “What’s the rush for?” 

“The weather’s warming up, now that you’re out of the cast I thought it would be nice for us to do something outside of the house,” Edward explains, a warm smile on his lips when he turns his head to look back at me. It’s a little surprising. Up until now, a lot of the time we spent together was spent curled up on the couch taking turns reading passages from our favorite books or watching old movies. But that had been due to my incapacitation. I didn’t like my crutches much. I appreciated the mobility they gave me but after an hour it started to make my shoulders really sore. Now I was free to go where I wanted and… the idea of going out on a date with Edward was a nice one. 

Better than nice, really. 

Our first real date as a couple had been at the baseball field and that hadn’t ended well. It would be good for both of us to have something nice to replace the terror that night reminded us of.

I couldn’t help the smile on my face, head tilting to the side as I said, “And what are we going to be doing?” It takes only a few seconds for Edward to dry the dishes and put them away before he’s back in front of me. My arms are around his shoulders, fingers combing lightly through the locks they touched. 

“I thought we could go to our meadow. The sun will shine for a while so we can’t go anywhere too populated.”

Our meadow. 

Edward calling it our meadow made warmth blossom in my chest in a way I didn’t think it would. It was a special place for us, I knew that. But he had told me that it was a place he liked to go to so I hadn’t thought of it as a space for both of us. “Sounds great. You’ve finished all my chores so I guess we can leave now,” I said before our lips pressed together for a short, sweet moment. 

\----- 

Getting to the meadow, our meadow, hadn’t taken very long. Edward had long since declared himself the one to drive both of us everywhere. He couldn’t stand my truck’s speed and had done enough dazzling to make me complacent with it. Ever since my broken leg, I’d gotten better used to his running. No longer did I have to tuck my face into his shoulder and close my eyes while we flew through the forest. Now I actually enjoyed it. It was incredible just how quickly everything passed us by. 

The feeling of the sun soaking into my skin was lovely but I liked seeing the light reflect off of Edward’s perfect skin even more. 

My head was resting in his lap and I could feel his hands gently combing through my long locks. His free hand was doing something but I couldn’t see it from where I laid. Soon, both hands were in my hair. Edward worked so softly that the motions made my eyes begin to flutter to a close. “What’re you up to?” my voice was soft, I couldn’t bear to make it any louder in such a moment of peace. My words were met with a quiet hush, his hands continuing with whatever he was doing. 

“There,” he mumbled, my eyes opened to see a blinding grin from the angel that loomed above me. I could only stare, something that made Edward laugh and motion to his work. My hand went up and found that my hair had been done up in a braid, flower petals brushed against my hand and I couldn’t help the laugh that flowed out. It must’ve looked pretty, though I couldn’t tell. 

I sat up and reached over to pluck one of the violet-colored flowers near me, taking hold of Edward’s right hand with my own. “Hold still,” I mumbled, fingers clumsily working at the stem so that it would bend the way I wanted. It took a few trying, I would huff when the stems would break and look up to see Edward pursing his lips which did nothing to hide the smile in his eyes. But, after 5 attempts, I finally managed to make a little ring out of the flower; the remnants of my previous tries in my lap. I held his hand up proudly, delighted by the fact that I’d managed to make it look nice enough. Of course, I could make a shirt out of a garbage bag and he’d be able to make it a bold fashion statement. His eyes, molten honey, told me that he liked it too. He stared at our hands clasped together for a long moment before he leaned forward. 

Kissing Edward always made me breathless. 

Our lips melded together seamlessly, like two pieces of a puzzle finally connecting. My hands found their way to his hair as I tried to keep us there for as long as possible. When Edward finally pulled us apart, the both of us laughed. 

“I love you,” Edward mumbled, our lips brushing as he spoke those sacred words. They filled me with warmth from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. It felt like my life was too perfect when he told me that, like I would wake up from this beautiful dream at any moment. But there was no denying I was awake. There was no doubt that Edward was holding me close and looking at me as if I was the only person in the world so I had to let him know how I felt. 

“I love you too.”


	2. Operas and Picnics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward and Bella go to Seattle.

A frown had been on my lips for so long that I was a little worried that it wasn’t going to leave, even if I wanted it to. 

But I couldn’t help it! The last time Alice had trapped me in a chair and practically forced me to stay still I’d been forced to go to prom. It hadn’t been a bad, Edward had made the evening more than tolerable. But I wasn’t enjoying the secrecy behind these makeover days. “Are you going to tell me what all this is for or not?” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. 

“Oh, hush, you’re not doing anything anyway so no complaining,” Alice mocked a serious expression for a brief moment before a bell-like laugh leaves her lips. She didn’t seem off-put by my scowl at all, which was a little frustrating. Instead, she busied herself with using a little brush that looked like a mascara want to brush at my eyebrows. Alice had been at the valiant effort of making me look pretty for the last hour and a half. Esme had floated in and out of the room every so often, making me blush when she would compliment the work Alice had done. 

“The eyeshadow really makes your eyes sparkle, dear.” 

“That lipstick looks lovely on you.” 

Esme seemed the kind of woman who couldn’t lie even if she wanted to so I timidly thanked her whenever she’d say something. But a little bit of dread filled my stomach when Esme came back in, a garment bag in hand. “It’s this one, right?” her soft voice hummed, a bright smile on her face. Alice nodded eagerly, placing the curling iron she’d been working with on the vanity before flitting over to take it from her motherly hands. 

“What’s that for?” 

“Bella, relax. It’s an outfit, I’m not going to stick needles under your nails,” Alice chided, rolling her eyes when I let out a little groan. I loved Alice. On top of being an angel for helping me out when I was still in my cast, she had quickly become one of my best friends. She was the one person, other than Edward, I could talk openly with. And really, sometimes I felt more open with Alice than him. Edward was the love of my life but I was always worried I would say the wrong thing or he’d realize I was a lot more boring than he’d thought. Other times, it felt like he wouldn’t say what he was really thinking; holding back to keep from hurting my feelings. Not Alice. She wasn’t scared to say what she thought, even if it would annoy her brother. I appreciated her for that openness. Yes, I loved Alice dearly but that didn’t stop me from being annoyed with her. 

I’d grumbled the whole time I got into the outfit she’d picked out for me. It was pretty, I’d be lying if I said otherwise. With the weather warming up for the summer, I could get away with wearing some of the stuff I would wear in Arizona. But this wasn’t anything I would have put myself in and I had half a mind to deny Alice. 

It was a tight blue silk gown with a V that was a little deeper than what I was used to and ran down to my ankle. Moving around in it would have been impossible if not for the slit up the side of my right leg that stopped at my thigh. What was even worse were the heels, what was Alice thinking? There was no way I would be able to take a step in these delicate-looking monsters without falling on my face! When I’d stared at Alice with what was surely a look of horror, she laughed, “It gives you an excuse to just cling to Edward all night.” The explanation made my cheeks burn red. Well, that made it a little better. When I was finally dressed, Alice took a moment to make sure my loose locks kept the light curls she’d made by using some more hairspray before grabbing my elbows and helping me down the stairs. 

Edward was there to meet me at the bottom and I felt like I was falling for him all over again. 

His bronze locks were brushed down so they weren’t the usual handsome looking messiness he always had them in. The black slacks he had on made his legs seemed longer than they were and his cleanly pressed navy button-up hugged his chiseled form in a way that made my cheeks pink. But what really got to me was the way Edward was staring at me. 

Those beautiful eyes, which were a light amber tonight, looked as if he was seeing the sun for the first time in his life. 

Alice was laughing a little as she transferred me into Edward’s open arms. His arm looped around my waist, holding me up with ease while his other hand tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. “I think she went a little overboard,” I mumbled, looking down at his chest rather than his eyes again. It seemed he wouldn’t have that because his hand cupped my chin and had me turn my head up towards his. 

“You look perfect.” 

His head had begun its descent and I eagerly leaned up to meet him halfway but we were soon interrupted by Esme’s voice chiming out, “Wait, I want a picture of you two!” 

“Mom-” 

“I’ll be quick!” Esme interrupted, motioning us to move towards the piano. Edward smiled affectionately at her excitement and did as he was told, making me feel like I was floating because of the way he was holding my weight off of the floor. Esme was beaming as she instructed us on how to pose, making quick work of snapping photos of the two of us. The attention had my cheeks burning bright red but I couldn’t bear to do anything but listen since Esme looked so happy. When she finally lowered the camera, she grinned as she said, “Done, now you to go be on your way. Wouldn’t want you to be late!” 

“Have fun!” Alice called out, waving largely at the two of us as we made out way out of the house and into… a car I’d never seen before. 

It was sleek and black and fancy-looking. My brow arched in question as he helped me settle inside which made him laugh as he answered, “This is my special occasion car. I don’t get to drive it around often.” 

“And exactly what special occasion is this?” 

Edward pulled out of his parking spot, easily shooting through the dark path to his home, “You mentioned that you’d never been to the opera, I thought it’d be fun to take you to one.” One of his hands moved to link his fingers through mine as he began to drive out of Forks. If I didn’t trust him so much I would have been anxious about him not having two hands on the wheel. But he had perfect control no matter what. I had to admit, after getting used to the speed I was pleased with how quickly we could get to places.

A smile came to my lips, surprised he’d remembered that I’d told him that. It’d felt like ages since those couple of days he’d spent interrogating me about every little thing in my life. Edward remembering small things like that never failed to make love swell up in me so strongly that sometimes I’d felt like I’d cry. Though I never mentioned it, my mom forgetting stuff about me always hurt a little. Charlie wasn’t all that better at it. But Edward seemed to remember all the tiny things, even if I didn’t tell him about them specifically. The first time I’d noticed it was when he’d brought me a bouquet of dahlia’s, my favorite flower. It had come out of nowhere and I had proudly set them up in a vase on the coffee table. Charlie tried not to smile too often when Edward was around but I’d seen him add some ice to the vase to make them last longer. 

“Isn’t the closest opera place in Seattle? That’s like 3 hours away.” 

Edward turned his gaze towards me and pointedly rolled his eyes, scoffing, “Please, Bella, if it wasn’t for fear of your heart I’d have us there in under an hour.” 

And he was right. It only took an hour and a half for us to reach Seattle. We talked most of the time. And the time that wasn’t spent talking about interesting stories about Edward’s past, we were singing loudly to a playlist he’d made that had our favorites from different musicals. A lot of it was from the Phantom of the Opera. His deep, coaxing voice filled the role of the Phantom to perfection which made me a little self-conscious about my own bad singing. But Edward’s big smile and pouting at me to play along with him made me feel better almost instantly. Even though I probably sounded like a frog with a sore throat, Edward told me that I was the best Christine he’d ever seen. It was silly but I couldn’t ask for a more perfect drive. 

After parking in the multi-story lot, Edward helped me out of the car and walked us towards the entrance of the opera house. The building was incredible. Stone-colored panels of the roof were carved into interesting shapes, warm light pouring through them. We walked through the glass doors and I took note of the way some women’s head whipped towards Edward. It was to be expected but I had to admit that it annoyed me a tiny bit. 

It certainly didn’t help that the woman at the ticket stand kept her gaze on him the whole time as he picked our tickets up. My arm looped around his waist as we waited for them to be printed our, earning me an affectionate smile from Edward that was followed by a quick kiss. Good. Hopefully, people wouldn’t stare too openly anymore. Thankfully, it didn’t take much longer for us to be on our way to the theatre. A wide range of people were making their way through the open doors. There were quite a lot of couples, a mix of young ones like us and older ones, A gaggle of teens excitedly made their way to their seats. Young children clung to their mother’s skirts and asked loudly if they were allowed to bring snacks inside. 

I was amazed by the inside of the theatre. The walls were a deep, rich red that was a few shades darker than the seats that were framed by what looked like gold carvings. Edward easily helped me traverse down the long set of stairs and he seemed proud to show me that he’d gotten us center orchestra seats. Our hands were clasped together as the room darkened and the curtains rose as music began to fill the room. 

The experience was breathtaking. It was one thing to hear the incredible feats that people could make their voices meet through a CD but an entirely different thing to hear it in person. The overexaggerated movements paired with the ostentatious gowns and costumes made it so I could take my eyes off of the performance for even a moment. By the time the actors came out to do their final bows, I was happy to tell Edward that I preferred the opera to ballet. 

“It was so beautiful,” I sighed as we stepped back out into the deepening night. The streets of Seattle were will lit, reminding me that we were back in a city. As we headed towards the car, I asked, “Where are we going now?” 

“It’s a surprise.” 

“You know how I feel about those..” 

“Indulge me,” Edward laughed, pressing his lips to mine as I settled back into the passenger seat. And I did indulge him. The night was so perfect already and Edward seemed excited for what was next. It wasn’t too long a drive but that was only because when I dared to look at the speedometer I had seen we were keeping at a steady 100 MPH. I decided not to look at it anymore or I might freak myself out. It was only as he slowed down that I saw some signs indicating that we were going to someplace named Carkeek Park. My eyebrows furrowed for a moment, wondering what exactly we’d be doing at a park.

But I was absolutely thrilled to see that this park was more like a beach. The sound of the waves gently crashing against the shore filled my ears as Edward opened the door for me but I didn’t get out until I kicked my shoes off. That made him grin, laughter flowing out of him when I dumped them in the back of the car. Sand and heels weren’t the best combination, plus who didn’t like feeling the sand between their toes. Even with summer settling in, the ocean breeze got me to shiver a little; the silk dress wasn’t exactly much cover. Before I could even finish shivering, the coat Edward had brought along was placed over my shoulders. It made me smile, his scent floated off of the cloth and protected me from any rush of wind. 

We walked out towards one of the massive pieces of driftwood that littered the beach and he motioned for me to sit down before he hummed, “Close your eyes and don’t open them until I say so.” The command had me rolling my eyes but I played along anyway. My hands went up to cover my eyes. I could faintly hear the sound of things moving around as I waited, heart rate picking up as I thought of the millions of things that could be happening when I wasn’t looking. Thankfully, because of Edward’s speed, I wouldn’t have to wait very long. “Go ahead,” his low voice called out from in front of me. 

When I lowered my hands and let my eyes flutter open I couldn’t help the gasp that left my lips. 

There laid out on the sand was the cutest picnic set up I’d ever seen. A deep purple blanket had been spread out in front of me and a few candles littered the surrounding area to light up the dark night. White pillows had been arranged in the perfect position for lounging and I could see that there were white flower petals scattered prettily around it all. In the glow of the candlelight, I could see a few plates of different things. One had a variety of chocolate-covered fruits while another had little intricate-looking finger sandwiches. For a moment, all I could do was look at what Edward had set up for me. When I looked towards him, he almost looked sheepish as he explained, “I wanted to make you something but I’m still learning about cooking. I didn’t want to risk messing the food up so I went with something simple.” 

My eyes flicked from his face and back to the picnic he’d arranged before returning to Edward. My heart felt full. Fuller than it’d been in its whole life. So full, in fact, that I felt like I was overflowing. I could feel my eyes heat up and begin to water, making Edward’s gaze widen and some panic seep in as he asked me, “What’s wrong?” 

I couldn’t help but let out a warbled laugh at his worry, shaking my head as my hand went up to wipe at my eyes; I’d have to thank Alice for using waterproof stuff. “No, I’m completely fine this is just..” My teeth pressed into my lower lips for a few brief moments, collecting myself before I said, “It’s just that this is the most thoughtful thing that anyone’s done for me. “ And, really, it was. Edward couldn’t eat but he’d went ahead and made me food instead of just ordering it like normal. And I had never known anyone to make me such a beautiful surprise. Worry melted off of his face and suddenly I was in his arms, feeling his lips press against my forehead. When I tried to thank him, Edward merely shook his head and told me that it had been his pleasure. 

We stayed there for a long while. I ate as we relaxed under the stars and he traced the straps of my dress as I did. Hopefully Alice wouldn’t want the gown back because I ruined the bottom by splashing around with Edward in the ankle-deep water. Charlie got a little mad at me for staying out too late but I had too much fun to really care and it seemed he noticed because after a while he told me I looked pretty before sending me off to bed.


End file.
